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You won’t find the phrase “original sin” in the Bible. The story of humanity’s “fall” in Genesis 1 doesn’t use the term, and St. Paul, one of the church’s earliest theologians, only hints at it in places. After the first century the early church fathers started to define it, but those in the East and West took different approaches.

Anyone who has erected a nativity scene is following Francis’ 13th-century example.

On Christmas Eve 1223, St. Francis created the first nativity in the Italian city of Greccio. With the help of a local nobleman, Francis celebrated the birth of Jesus in a cave outside the town. The liturgy featured a hay-filled manger in front of the temporary altar, and as Francis preached, the nobleman arranged to have an ox and a donkey stand at the altar as well.

Every election season, Catholics wonder about the relationship between their church and politics.

"I believe in an America where... there is no Catholic vote, no anti-Catholic vote," declared John F. Kennedy. But today some wonder whether U.S. Catholic bishops are trying to create a political bloc by telling Catholics how to cast their ballots.

Jim Dinn, a freelance writer retired in Pennsylvania. This article appeared in the April 2005 (Volume 70, Number 4) issue of U.S. Catholic.See more posts by Jim Dinn

The church requires two miracles before a person can be canonized. Why?

A Catholic friar on a plane that made a dramatic emergency landing in Poland last fall clutched a lock of hair from Blessed John Paul II while praying for the safety of his fellow passengers. Will this be the second miracle needed for the late pontiff’s canonization?

Heidi Schlumpf, a former editor at U.S. Catholic, is an associate professor of communications at Aurora University in Aurora, Illinois and author of While We Wait: Spiritual and Practice Advice for Those Trying to Adopt. See more posts by Heidi Schlumpf

The Vatican's October announcement of a special process to admit Anglicans to the Roman Catholic Church raised questions for many who perhaps thought that "crossing the Tiber" would require a major shift in belief for Anglicans.

The relationship between Anglicanism and Roman Catholicism, however, has always been somewhat different from the other Catholic-Protestant divides, which may make it easier for Anglicans to find a home in the Roman communion.

Faith and prayer involve a lot more than solutions to personal difficulties.

When my mother was a girl, she lost a ring that meant a lot to her. Given that she was a very devout child, she did what any right-thinking Italian American in her neighborhood would do: Go to the statue of St. Anthony of Padua in church and pray for the ring’s return. A few days later she was passing the statue, and at the feet of St. Anthony lay her ring. Miracle? Or the work of someone—maybe a janitor—who found the ring and put it in a place where its owner would likely find it?